Apparatus for skinning animals



y; 3; 1933- A G. BIGNAMI 1,910,787

APPARATUS FOR SKINNING ANIMALS Filed. June 23, 1931 ZSheetS Sheet l W be" 5)" I INVENTOR. GBignz-zmi A TTORNEYS.

y 1933- G. BlGNAMl 1,910,787

APPARATUS FOR SKINNING ANIMALS Filed June 25, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

A TTORNEYS.

Patented May 23, 1933 UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE GIOVANNI BIGNAMI, or MILAN, ITALY APPARATUS FOR SKINNING ANIMALS The invention relates to improvements in the construction of apparatus for skinning animals and more particularly to the type in which a rotary cutting blade, revolving in a frame provided with a comb to protect the skingduring the operation, is driven by a flexible transmission shaft connected to a suitable motor.

These improvements relate to the construction of theannular blade, to the mounting of the blade in the apparatus, tothe-means for securing the flexible transmission shaft both to the .apparatus and to the motive means, and to a mode of construction of the motorsupport.

According to the invention the knife of the apparatus. is formed by a series of small blades or knives, for example of the type employed in safety razors, suitably modified,

'which are slipped into a circular holder and secured therein by screws or other means.

The circular holder is integral with aring comprising a toothed crown and forming the movable art of a ball bearing the construcfrom the following escription. I

Similarly the devicesfor securing the flexible shaft bothto the apparatus and to the motor are very simple and adapted to permit .the flexible shaftto be taken up when ithas become stretched through use.

An embodiment of the present invention is I illustrated by way of exam 1e in the accom panying drawings, in whic Figure 1 is a side view of the complete apparatus.

Figure 2 shows the same apparatus in plan.

Figs. 3 and 3a are fragmentary top and bottom plan views, respectively, of the cuttin element removed from the frame.

igure 4 is a section taken along the line 4-4 in Figure 2.

Figures 5 and 6 are a side view and a plan of the haversack for containing the motor.

Figures 7 and 8 are details of the tooth point.

Fig. 9 is a sectional detail of the coupling between the flexible drive shaft and the drive motor.

As will be seen from the figures, the skinsimple, as will be seen Application filed June 28, 1931, Serial 1T0. 546,393pand in Italy June 25, 1930.

tact the smallest possible angle or no angle 80 at all, and the blades are mounted in an interchangeable manner on a ring 2 having a horizontal groove 3 on its periphery in which the inner part of the blade 1, which is suitably shaped, is slipped and held in place, if desired with the interposition of a packing piece 4, by means-of simple set screws 6 passing through open tapped holes5 in the upper part of the blade carrying ring 2.

If during use one or more blades 1 become 7 broken or dull they may be removed and changed very easily by releasing the screws 6 corresponding to the blades 1 which have to be changed.

Similarly, the blades can be sharpened very easily when. they have been removed from the apparatus.

The ring 2 forms the movable part of the ball bearing; the remaining part of the latter comprises a fixed part 9 whichis lodged in so a corresponding recess in the frame 12'12". Both the part 2 and the part 9 are grooved at 7 and 8 respectively; these notches are situated opposite each other so as to form a seating for the balls 10. The balls are suitably spaced apart by means of a central ring 11 comprising fork shaped projections 12directed upwards and curved at the upper part (see Figure 4) so as to enclose the balls which in this way cannot move withtrespect to each other or slip out at the top;

It is easy to understand that in this way the part 9 of the ball ring will form with the aid of the balls 10 a unit with the part 2 so' that, when it is desired to clean the apparatus, the whole arrangement formed: by the blade carrying ring and the ring ,9 can be removed from the apparatus as a unit.

The ring 2 is.provided below with the toothed crown 13 having radial teeth inclined from the centre to the periphery.

Such an arrangement permits the shaft of the bevel pinion 14 to be arranged at a very small angle with respect to the operating plane of the apparatus, thus avoiding the necessity of providing reduction gearing and permitting a motor to be employed having a high speed of revolution.

The shaft of the pinion 14 is mounted upon a ball bearing in the tubular end 15 of the part 12 of the frame.

The teeth 37 of the front curved portion of the part 12 of the frame have a specially designed shape which permits the natural elasticity of the skin to be fully employed. A section taken along a vertical plane is formed by two curves connected together (Figures 7 and 8) the terminal curve of which (end w of the teeth) 16 is of infinitely smaller radius than the following curve 17. Such a form prevents the teeth from penetrating into the skin and tearing or damaging the latter on account of the form of the tooth itself shown 1 in plan view in Figure 8.

The connection between the motor and the flexible shaft (Figure 9) is obtainedby means of a screwed sleeve 24 in which is screwed the last part of the flexible tube which is screw threaded; this permits the tube to be shortened or lengthened according to the shortening or lengthening of the flexible drive of the transmission proper 25 which is coupled to the shaft of the motor by means of the tapped sleeve 26 which is mounted upon a screwed tail piece keyed upon the shaft of the motor. The screw must be 0ppositely threaded with relation to the direction of rotation of the motor as is obvious.

The connection between the apparatus and the flexible shaft is obtained by means of the separate the apparatus from the flexible shaft and at the same time it is also easy to remove the flexible shaft 25 from its tube for eventual replacement.

Figures 5 and 6 show the support for the electric motor placed in a haversack, which scribed be moved easily in all directions without interfering with the operation of thetool. -lVl1at I claim is: 1. An apparatus for skinning animals,

comprising a flexible transmission. shaft,

means for driving said shaft, a frame, a ring rotatably mounted in said frame and operably connected with the transmission shaft, and a knife mounted in said ring and formed of a plurality of separate individually detachable blades arranged side by side and providing a continuous cutting edge of polygonal form, and means for detachably securing each separate blade to the ring.

2. An apparatus for skinning animals comprising a flexible transmission shaft, an electric motor for driving said shaft, a corn nection between the motor and the shaft, a knife carrying frame comprising an upper member and a lower member having comb teeth over a portion of its periphery, a peripherally grooved ring rotatable between said frame members and operably connected with the transmission shaft, a plurality of knife blades having a' straight cutting edge and an.

3. Apparatus according to claim .2 wherein the rotatable ring forms the outerrace of aball bearing and coacts. with an inner race. rigidly mounted in the frame, a cage bemg 1nterposed between these races and having lodgments wherein balls are retained by suitable .means.

4.. Apparatus according to claim 2, whereln the rotatable ring carries a crown of radial.

teeth inclined from the outside towards the, centre of the apparatus, the said crown of teethbeing situated at the lower part of the ring.

5. in the teeth in horizontal section have a rounded tipand. in depth have a profile formed by an upper surface engaging with the knifeblades and a lower surface formed by a curve of small radiusat the tipand of large radius thereafter.

In testimony whereof I have signed my I name tothis specification.

GIOVANNI BIGNAMI.

Apparatus according to claim 2, where, 

